Burial casket with transparent body covering lining



Jan. 13, 1970 C. R. ORR 3,488,818

BURIAL GASKET WITH TRANSPARENT BODY COVERING LINING Filed Feb. 21, 1968FIG. 4

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United States Patent Oiilice 3,488,818 Patented Jan. 13, 1970 3,488,818BURIAL CASKET WITH TRANSPARENT BODY COVERING LINING Carl R. Orr, 7538Willey, Germantown, Tenn. 38038 Filed Feb. 21, 1968, Ser. No. 707,227Int. Cl. A61g 17/04 U.S. Cl. 27-2 6 Claims ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSUREBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Relates to cofns orburial caskets and particularly to enclosure structures for preservingthe corpse after interment.

Description of the prior art Prior are caskets fall generally into twocategories: The full couch type in which a single lid is fitted over thecasket corpse-receivingchamber and fully covers the corpse, and ahalf-couch type casket which typically includes two lids mounted edge toedge and which may be used for covering or uncovering the torso or upperpart only of a corpse. It is often of great concern to relatives of thedeceased that the body of the deceased be fully protected afterinterment. To these ends, caskets are made substantially air andwaterproof. The typical contemporary casket, whether half couch or fullcouch is provided with sealable lid means for sealing the corpse insidethe casket. In the casket art considerable effort is made to assure thata casket may be properly sealed: The welded joints are usually inspectedor tested to make certain no opening exists in the walls of the'casket;where the casket handles are attached, and where holes must be formed inthe casket walls, gasket seals are used to assure a tight connection;also, gaskets are used at the corner brackets and at such points wherethe trim or ornamentation of the casket requires perforations to be madein the casket wall; the lid sealing means is often complicated andconsiderable effort and expense is directed toward providing eifectivesealing and latching means for casket lids.

Air lock type vault means are often utilized as a means of protecting acorpse. In addition to sealing a corpse in a casket, it is not unusualto seal the sealed casket in a vault during interment. The typical vaultmeans includes an integrally formed steel cover having an open bottomand is adapted to be placed over the casket. As may well be seen,considerable effort is expended to assure proper protection of a corpseafter interment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides comparativelysimple but etfective means for protecting a corpse. The basic concept isto provide a casket having the principal corpsesealing orcorpse-protecting means on the inside of the casket shelf or body. Along clear plastic case is adapted to -be placed over the corpse in acasket prior to closing and securing the lid of a casket. The lower edgeof the case extends substantially below the corpse supporting surfaceand there is an air seal provided by the case. In other words, the airentrapped within the case will prevent the level of any water, which'finds its way into the interior of the casket body, from rising to theheight ofthe corpse so that the corpse will remain dry. The clearplastic case means of the present invention may be formed to fit orcoact with an existing casket body or shell, or the invention may be inthe embodiment of a combination including the casket body and the insidetransparent case.

The present invention exhibits several desirable features: It can beutilized equally as readily in either the full couch or half couch typeof casket: the transparent case inside the casket body provides anadditional safeguard that a corpse is protected; when the inside casemeans is used in conjunction with a casket body having a scalable lid,double guard corpse-sealing means is provided; when the insidetransparent case is tted in a sealed casket -body and the casket body isenclosed in a typical casket vault, triple-guard corpse-sealing means ispro vided in interment.

The transparent case means of the caskets of the present invention iseasily tted in the casket body and with substantially no likelihood thatit has not been properly fitted. Being formed of clear plastic material,the undertaker or a workman in the art may view the case afterinstallation in a casket body and readily determine if the case has beenproperly installed. Also, the relatives of the deceased may readily seethat the corpse is adequately protected by the clear plastic case.Utilizing the clear plastic case on the inside of a casket bodysubstantially eliminates the importance of obtaining positive sealing atthe casket lid and at the attachment points of the handles, cornerbrackets, ornamental trim and the like, and substantially insures that acompletely efective air seal is provided. Moreover, in many instance,the use of the corpse-sealing means of the present invention obviatesthe necessity of enclosing the casket in a vault.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. l is a view of one form of thecasket means of the present invention with parts in vertically spacedarrangement for purposes of description.

FIG. 2 is a vertical plane longitudinal sectional view of FIG. l withthe parts arranged in operative configuration, and with the caskethandle parts removed for clarity.

FIG. 3 is a vertical plane transverse sectional View taken as on theline III-III of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a horizontal plane sectional view taken as on the line IV-IVof FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a transverse sectional view of a second embodiment of thecasket means of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIGS. 1-4 illustrate at rstembodiment 11 of the present invention and includes basically a casketbody 13 including -base structure 15 and lid structure 17; a clearplastic case 19 adapted to be arranged in the interior of the casketbody 13; and bed means 21 defining a corpsesupporting surface 23.

Casket body 13 includes upstanding rectangularly arranged wall structureincluding side walls 25, 25 and end walls 27, 27. Base structure 15 inconjunction with upstanding wall structure 25, 25, 27, 27 deiine anupwardly opening corpse-receiving chamber 29. Base structure 15preferably includes strucfure defining a generally rectangular flatupper surface 31 ard a rectangular upwardly facing base surface 33coplanar arranged with surface 31 and extending circumferentiallythereabout. Base surface 33 intersects respectively inside surfaces 35,35, 37, 37 respectively of side and end walls 25, 25, 27, 27;rectangular base surface 33 extends generally continuously alongupstanding rectangular wall structures 25, 25, 27, 27. Lid structure 17preferably includes a head lid 39 and foot lid 41 in much the same formas the typical half couch casket. Head and foot lids 39, 41 are hingedrespectively as at 43, 45 to a respective side wall 25 and are adaptedto be sealingly closed over chamber 29.

Bed means 21 (see FIGS. 2 and 3) includes basically a rigid lower bedstructure 47 and a resilient upper bed structure or mattress 49. Lowerbed structure 47 preferably is formed of sheet metal material andincludes a broad planar horizontal top 51, downturned rectangularlyarranged vertical side and end panels 53, 53, 55, 55 and a horizontalrectangular configured flange 57 extending right angularly respectivelyfrom side and end Ipanels 53, 53, 55, 55 of lower -bed structure 47. Bedstructure 47 is adapted to be removably received in chamber 29 withflange 57 restingly engaging base surface 33 of casket body basestructure 15.

The rectangular periphery of bed structure flange 57 is proportioned tosnugly but freely fit the interior rectangular configuration of casketchamber 29; the rectangular peripheral edge portions of flange 47 areadapted to be arranged contiguous the side and end Wall inside surfaces.Mattress 49 may be formed of any suitable resilient material and isconfigured rectangular to conform with the rectangular configuration oftop 51 of bed structure 47. Mattress 49 extends coextensive with top 51with undersurface 59 thereof restingly engaging the upper surface of top51 of lower bed structure 47.

Case 19 preferably is integrally formed of Clear plastic sheet materialand includes a generally horizontal top wall 61 and side and end walls63, 63, 65, 65. Case 19 is generally inverted U-shaped in transversesection and side and end walls 63, 63, 65, 65 terminate in a generallyrectangular downwardly oriented bottom edge 67, The horizontallybounding external configuration of case 19 or the rectangularconfiguration of side and end walls 63, 63, 65, I65 of case 19corresponds substantially with the interior configuration of side andend walls 25, 25, 27, 27 of casket -body 13. The side and end walls ofcase 19 are preferably uniformly spaced respectively from the side andend walls of casket -body 13; case 19 is adapted to be freely removablyfitted in casket body chamber 29 with rectangular bottom edge 67 thereofrestingly engaging the upper surface of rectangular flange 57 of bedstructure 47. The lower inside vertical surface portions respectively ofside and end walls 63, 63, 65, 65 of case 19 are adapted to freely butsnugly engage respectively vertical outside surfaces respectively ofside and end walls 53, 53, 55, 55 of lower bed structure 47. Case 19 isadapted to be freely fitted over the upwardly displaced top 51 of bedstructure 47 and to be freely engaged or disengaged from bed structure47.

Case 19 is constrained against upward movement in casket body 13. Thepreferred means of constraining case 19 against upward movement is byproportioning body 13, case 19 and lid structure 17 so that the uppersurface of case 19 engages the undersurface of lid structure 17 when thelid structure is in a closed disposition on casket body 13. The relativeproportions of casket body 13, case 19 and lids 39, 41 are such thatwhen the lids are closed over chamber 29 the undersurfaces of therespective lids engage top wall 61 of case 19.

It will be understood that if water seeps into the inside of casket body13 and starts to fill up in the bottom of the base structure 1S, thelevel of the water cannot rise up into the inside of case 19 to thelevel of the corpse which is spaced above the lower edge of the case,since the entrapped air in the interior of the case will prevent thewater from rising beyond a certain point. Thus, the entrapped air aroundthe corpse is sealed off from the outside atmosphere. In addition, itwill be understood that the engagement of the upper surface of case 19with the lid .structure will ,prevent the case from floating.

The second embodiment, indicated 11', is similar to first embodiment 11;the primary difference in the two embodiments being that bed structure47', rather than being removable from casket body 13', is formedintegral with base structure 15 of casket body 13. The bottom edge 67 ofcase 19 of second embodiment 11 is adapted to restingly engagerectangular base surface 33 of casket body base structure 15. Lower bedstructure 47 is displaced upwardly into the lower interior of case 19'with top 51 supportingly engaging the undersurface of mattress 49. Theupwardly facing bed surface or corpse-supporting surface 23 of mattress49 is arranged at a level a substantial distance above the level ofbottom edge 67 of case 19'. As in embodiment 11, the relativeproportions respectively of body 13', case 19 and lid structure 17 aresuch that the lid structure is adapted to constrain case 19 againstupward movement when the lid structure is in a closed disposition,

Although in the drawings, the casket body and lid parts have beenillustrated as being of Substantially heavy or thick-walledconstruction, it will of course be understood that suchV illustration isfor disclosure purposes only and that in actual practice the casket bodyand lid thereof will be preferably formed of sheet metal, wood or thelike and of construction typical in the art. Also, it will belunderstood that although cases 19, 19 are illustrated and areheretofore described as being of unitary construction formed of clearsheet plastic material, case means of other than unitary constructionmay be utilized in certain embodiments of the invention. It iscontemplated that in certain embodiments of the invention it may bedesirable to fabricate cases 19, 19' of various sheet material otherthan clear sheet plastic and with certain portions of the case wallsbeing formed opaque rather than transparent. Such as this is well withinthe discretion of those working the art.

While I have shown and described exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention it will of course be understood that various modifications andrearrangements of structure may be made without departing from the scopeof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A burial casket comprising a body including a horizontal generallyrectangular base structure, upstanding rectangularly arranged wallstructure connected with said base structure and defining a generallyrectangular upwardly opening chamber, said base structure includingstructure defining a general-ly rectangular upwardly facing base surfacearranged in said chamber and extending generally-continuously along saidupstanding rectangularly arranged wall structure, said body includinglid structure adapted for displaceeble securement on said wall structureover said chamber, a generally rectangular openbottomed rigid-walledimperforate case generally inverted U-shaped in transverse section andhaving a lower substantially continuous generally horizontal downwardlyoriented bottom edge, said case being of a size to accommodate andcompletely cover a prone corpse, the horizontally bounding externa-lconfiguration of said case being" slightly smaller and correspondingsubstantially with the horizontally vbounding internal configuration oftheuupstanding wall structure of said casket body, said case beingadapted to be simultaneously placed in said chamber and over the corpse,said case being fitted in said body with the bottom edge of said casebeing contiguous said generally rectangular base surface of said basestructure,l and bed means supported on said base structure includingstructure defining an upwardly facing bed surface for supporting thecorpse, said bed surface being at a level a substantial distance abovethe level of the bottom edge of said case.

2`. A casket as dened in claim 1 wherein said bed means includes rigidlower bed structure substantially in1 teg'rally formed with said basestructure of said casket body and includes resilient upper bed structuredefining said upwardly facing bed surface,

3. A casket as defined in claim 1 wherein said bed means includes rigidlower bed structure adapted to be removably received in the chamber ofsaid casket body, said lower bed structure being removably supported onsaid base structure of said body, and includes resilient upper bedstructure defining said upwardly facing bed surface.

4. A casket as defined in claim 1 wherein at least the wall portions ofsaid case adapted for covering the upper portion of a corpse is formedof transparent material for viewing the corpse.

5. A casket as defined in claim 1 which additionally includes means forconstraining said case against upward movement in a direction away fromsaid base structure.

6. A casket as defined in claim 5 wherein said means 15 for constrainingsaid case against upwardly movement includes means defining relativeproportions of said body, said case, and said lid structure for causingundersurface portions of said lid structure to be arranged contiguousthe upper surface portions of said case when said lid struc- 20 ture isclosed on said body and covering said chamber, said case beingconstrained against upward movement by engagement with said lidstructure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 194,530 8/ 1877 Nirdlinger 27--19647,959 4/1900 Gerwe 27-12 1,454,427 5/ 1923 Cunning 27-19 2,508,319 5/1950 Westenhaver 27--35 2,579,756 12/1951 Reed 27-7 FOREIGN PATENTS756,363 9/1933 France.

WILLIAM E. KAMM, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl, X.R. 27-19

